Really Need to Cut My Food Budget!

RhiBi

Just back from holidays, and now with the annual event of Christmas coming up soon, I need to really go back to sorting out my food budget. I was doing well, but July/August, its gone a bit mad!

So, I really need to get it down to around £250-300 for a family of 6, 2 adults, 1 teenage daughter and 3 younger daughters, plus a cat!

I have most store cupboard things in, and I tend to base our weekly menu's around what food is on offer, taking advantage of the Lidl weekend meat offers etc.

So, is it possible to feed us all, including packed lunches on that amount of money? And do you have any tips of making meals stretch that bit further!

Also, one of my daughters is extremely fussy! She will not eat any sauce based meals at all, so if I make curry, she will have plain chicken with rice, this can be a headache on times, but I don't want to start making different meals for different people!

richardw

Are you buying many brand name goods?

RhiBi

A lot less than I used to! We are lucky to have home bargains nearby, and the chopped tomatoes there are 99p for 4 tins I used to buy heinz beans but telco value are just as good imo. The only brand thing I di buy really is HP brown sauce, I cannot stand the unbranded versions

I think what I find difficult to cut, is the amount of food I use just to make a meal - for 6 of us, it takes a heck of a lot of mince to make a bolognese for example! I think I need to learn how to bulk out meals using veg etc

~~Diane~~

RhiBi wrote: »

A lot less than I used to! We are lucky to have home bargains nearby, and the chopped tomatoes there are 99p for 4 tins I used to buy heinz beans but telco value are just as good imo. The only brand thing I di buy really is HP brown sauce, I cannot stand the unbranded versions

I think what I find difficult to cut, is the amount of food I use just to make a meal - for 6 of us, it takes a heck of a lot of mince to make a bolognese for example! I think I need to learn how to bulk out meals using veg etc

I've no advice really about cutting down on grocery send, I spend enough each month to feed half of small country :eek: but bolognaise I use 500gm mince steak (morrisons) can't stand grisley stuff. If I'm making from scratch I use 2 tins of tomatoes or a jar and 1 tin, then add onion, peppers and mushrooms. That makes 8 portions for 3 of us and my son has enough probably for 2 meals in 1.:T

dlusman

RhiBi wrote: »

I think what I find difficult to cut, is the amount of food I use just to make a meal - for 6 of us, it takes a heck of a lot of mince to make a bolognese for example! I think I need to learn how to bulk out meals using veg etc

try using half mince & half lentils

KateMP

We add cheap tins of beans to a lot of our meals to bulk out the meat - casseroles, spag bol etc (although we never have spaghetti cos the huge bags of pasta tubes are cheaper!!!). Also places like morrisons sometimes sell off cheaper veg at the end of its shelf life so you can bulk cook some casserole/stew type meals using carrots, swede etc and freeze what you arent going to eat in the next day or so. Good luck getting the bill down!

Trixysticks

Sounds really simple but I now weigh out my pasta and rice. I used to guess and always cook too much, either went in the bin or I just stuffed myself!

KateBob

If possible a local butcher might be worth looking at, if the prices are similar to the supermarket then you can just buy the right amount of meat rather than the set amount in supermarket packs.

A bit late for this year but at the being of next year start looking for veg seeds and plant up veg garden, you can save a lot by gwoing your own (but you also tend to end up with gluts and freezing lots).

argamemnon

Personally i have found using Rosspa for My Shopping is saving me a fortune ok only 2 of us and a Cat, but i'm spending about £40 a week..thats eating plenty of fruit and veg, Even with the postage charges i'm saving £20/£30 a week compared with supermarket prices. There's no way we could afford to eat this well shopping in the supermarkets..we are both noticing the benefits (weight loss) more energy etc, I Compare using My SuperMarket & Savings really add up.. Might be worth a go as long as your home one week day to take delivery.

RhiBi

argamemnon wrote: »

Personally i have found using Rosspa for My Shopping is saving me a fortune ok only 2 of us and a Cat, but i'm spending about £40 a week..thats eating plenty of fruit and veg, Even with the postage charges i'm saving £20/£30 a week compared with supermarket prices. There's no way we could afford to eat this well shopping in the supermarkets..we are both noticing the benefits (weight loss) more energy etc, I Compare using My SuperMarket & Savings really add up.. Might be worth a go as long as your home one week day to take delivery.

What is Rosspa? I've done a google search but am getting the royal society for the prevention of accidents, lol!!!!

Our_Felix

When I make spag bol and chilli, I always use the steak mince bought on offer from weekend Lidl and always make enough to freeze as well. I add a very finely diced carrot, a couple of celery sticks finely chopped and a small courgette and some mushrooms chopped small These bulk out the mince well and diced peppers. I always add some worcester sauce (bought from Lidl 2 for £1) as well as mixed herbs for the spag bol. I use the same spag bol mixture for lasagne, thus another reason for making a double amount.

Same for shepherds pie/cottage pie, put some small chopped veg into the mince mixture and a sprinkling of mixed herbs or a bay leaf gives a bit of extra flavour, and the usual splodge of worcester sauce!

Another thing I do is when the peppers are on offer in Lidl, buy extra and chop them up for spag bol and chilli and pop them into bags in the freezer, that way when I need them I am not paying full price.

Another thing I do when the peppers/veg are cheap, is to make a pan full of soup and add some chicken (which I have stocked up on when they were £1.99 for 500 g packs in Lidl).

I think if you try and plan some meals and stock up at Lidl when the good weekend offers are on, you would be able to shave some of your food bill.